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Guardian and Observer style guide: U

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

uber
no accent if you are saying something like uber-hip (although uber in this sense is uber-used); use the umlaut if you are quoting German

Uber
app-based taxi company

U-boat

uc
abbreviation for UPPERCASE but often used to mean initial capital letters

Ucas
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service

UCLan
abbreviation of the University of Central Lancashire

UK or Britain
in copy and headlines for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (but note Great Britain comprises just England, Scotland and Wales)

Ukip
It’s not normally necessary to give its full name, the UK Independence party

Ukraine
no “the”; adjective Ukrainian

ukulele
not ukelele

Ulaanbaatar
capital of Mongolia

Ulster
Avoid as an alternative term for Northern Ireland, which in fact comprises six of the nine counties of the province of Ulster. The only acceptable use is when it is in the name of an organisation eg a political party or sports team.

Uluru
not Ayers Rock

Umist
the former University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology merged with the University of Manchester in 2004

umlaut
In German placenames, ae, oe and ue should almost always be rendered ä, ö, ü. Family names, however, for the most part became petrified many years ago and there is no way of working out whether the -e form or the umlaut should be used; you just have to find out for each individual

umm-ed and ahh-ed

UN
United Nations, but it is not normally necessary to spell it out

UNAids

Unesco
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation

UN general assembly
should not be abbreviated to UNGA or Unga

UNHCR
United Nations high commissioner for refugees; not commission, although the name stands for both the high commissioner, Filippo Grandi, and the refugee agency he heads

UN high commissioner for human rights
currently Michelle Bachelet, formerly Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein (Hussein after first mention); the agency is normally abbreviated to OHCHR

Unicef
United Nations Children’s Fund

UN secretary general
currently António Guterres

UN security council

unbiased

uncharted
not unchartered

unchristian

uncooperative

under-
prefixes are normally one word, eg underachieve, underact, underage, undercover, underdeveloped, undermanned, underprivileged, undersea, undersecretary, undersigned, undervalue, underweight

underestimate, understate
Take care that you don’t mean overestimate or overstate. We often get this wrong – a typical example from the paper: “Qian’s contribution to China’s space and missile programme cannot be underestimated” (the writer meant the opposite)

underground, the
but London Underground for name of company

under way
not underway

uneducated
“with no formal education” may be more accurate

unfollow, unfriend
is what you do to people you don’t like on, respectively, Twitter and Facebook

uninterested
means not taking an interest; not synonymous with disinterested, which means unbiased, objective

union
lc when debating the future of “the union” (England and Scotland)

union flag, union jack
The Flag Institute has ruled that these two terms are interchangeable

unionists
(Northern Ireland) lc except in the name of a party, eg Democratic Unionist party

unique
one of a kind, so cannot be qualified as “absolutely unique”, “very unique”, etc

Unite
the UK’s biggest trade union, formed in 2007 by the merger between Amicus and the Transport and General Workers’ Union

United Kingdom
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; no need to write in full: say Britain or the UK

United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas
abbreviation: Ukoog

United Reformed Church
not United Reform Church, as pointed out on a wearisomely regular basis in the corrections column

universal credit

Universal Declaration of Human Rights
article 1, article 30, etc

universities
take initial cap, eg Sheffield University, Johns Hopkins University, Free University of Berlin

University College London
no comma; UCL after first mention

University of the Arts London
comprises Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea College of Arts, London College of Communication, London College of Fashion, and Wimbledon College of Arts

Unknown Warrior, tomb of the
not soldier

unmistakable

unskilled workers
used by the government when talking about stopping certain workers from migrating to the UK when the actual policy is based on income level rather than skill. As such, use low-paid workers instead, unless quoting someone.

until
not “up until”

unveiled
pictures are, as are cars sometimes, but these days almost everything seems to be – so the government “unveiled a raft of new policies” (two cliches and a redundant “new” in six words) or a company “unveiled record profits”. There is nothing wrong with announcing, reporting, presenting or publishing

upbeat, upfront, upgrade, upstage, uptight
but upside down

upcoming
the coining and, even worse, use of such jargon words is likely to make many otherwise liberal, enlightened readers (and editors) wonder if there is not after all a case to bring back capital, or at least corporal, punishment for crimes against the English language; an editor once told his staff: “If I read upcoming in the Wall Street Journal again, I shall be downcoming and somebody will be outgoing”

upmarket
rather than the American English upscale

upriver, upstream

up to date
but in an up-to-date fashion

US
for United States, not USA: no need to spell out, even at first mention; do not call it America, although its people are Americans
See America

usable
not useable

USAid

used
He used to do something, not he did use to do something and certainly not he did used to do something (double imperfect); a column said “high street shops did, it’s true, used to be more varied” – something like “high street shops certainly used to be more varied” would have been better

user-generated content

US Navy Seals
unless they are actual seals (marine mammals are used as minesweepers and underwater sentries)

utopian

U-turn

Uyghur, Uyghurs
the Uyghur people, particularly of the Xinjiang region in China

Uzbekistan
adjective Uzbek

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